This invention relates to a signal recording/reproducing apparatus and a signal recording/reproducing method for recording and reproducing video signals and/or audio signals and for searching for a reproducing position desired by a user, a program for causing a computer to execute recording and reproduction, and a recording medium having this program recorded thereon. This invention also relates to a signal reproducing apparatus and a signal reproducing method that enable reproduction from a position desired by the user.
This application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No.2002-145263, filed on May 20, 2002, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Conventionally, a signal recording/reproducing apparatus such as a video recorder or a disc recorder is used to for viewing an image and listening to sound recorded from a broadcasting program, when it is convenient to the user (viewer). Since such an apparatus is provided with a fast-forward playback function and a rewind playback function, the user carries out search for the beginning of a necessary part while reproducing an unnecessary part at a high speed, and carries out normal playback of the necessary part, thereby reducing the search time.
Meanwhile, in browsing homepages on the Internet, a bookmark function and a search function are often used. The bookmark function is a mechanism that enables a user to easily register into his/her own browser a homepage that he/she browsed once in a certain way. The user can browse that page again simply by calling the bookmark. The search function is a mechanism that automatically searches for a homepage containing a part corresponding to a keyword as the user simply designates the keyword. Both mechanisms provide user assistant functions for efficiently browsing a target homepage from a very large number of homepages.
However, in video/audio search, compared with the above-described homepage search, the user needs to constantly view and listen to data during high-speed playback, and near the beginning of a target part found by search, the user may have to repeat fast-forward and rewind for alignment. This is a burden on the user. Particularly in recent years, since the recording capacity for recording images and sounds has become very large because of the advancement of recording technique, the time and burden of searching for the beginning of a necessary part have significantly increased.
Thus, it is demanded that functions similar to the bookmark function and the search function on the Internet should be added to general signal recording/reproducing apparatuses.
Specifically, if a function of appending a bookmark to an image or a sound that is being browsed, for example, by using one button on a remote controller, and searching for and reproducing a part approximately coincident with the image or sound with the bookmark by using another button, is added, it is possible to append a bookmark to an image or a sound common to a program that is broadcast several times in series, for example, title image or music, in the first broadcast, and then search for the beginning of the program at a high speed in the next broadcast and thereafter.
Although such a function can also be realized by comparing video signals or audio signals, the search time is too long and it is not a practical function. Therefore, the search time must be reduced.